Caine vs. Barra

Caine vs Barra, both healthy and at the top of their games in an environment where neither has an advantage and in a situation where the only solution is a fight to the death. No holding back. No compromise. Two enter, which one leaves?

Caine vs Barra, both healthy and at the top of their games in an environment where neither has an advantage and in a situation where the only solution is a fight to the death. No holding back. No compromise. Two enter, which one leaves?

Come on man, I gotta know.

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Eh, sorry. Was meaning to reply to your email earlier -- life got in the way.

Unarmed? Caine. He has access to unarmed techniques that are far more advanced than any available to Barra.

All other things being equal (which they just aren't, but since you asked . . .) the edge goes to Barra. Caine dislikes fighting women, and is reluctant to kill them. Barra, conversely, has no difficulty killing men, and she hunts murderers for sport. Caine is a murderer many times over.

Even if he'd pay for it with his life? I seem to remember all his prejudices got thrown out when he was fighting for survival.

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I think the key word here is hesitate. Even if it is for a fraction of a second, that could be the difference between a knife in the ribs and survival in a given situation, especially against a foe who has no qualms at all about killing you.

Anyhow, I will be soon be able to judge for myself concerning this character. A friend has bought me the books (they should be here next week) I think he is under the impression I need educating in "Stoveronics"

I just read Heroes Die and I enjoyed it very much. It was quite a departure from what I ordinarily read. You have a very warped mind, but it worked for me.

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Thanks, Gary. I'm glad it's over. I really need to leave Star Wars behind for a while -- it ruined my health and severely damaged my productivity. The happy news is everything seems to be on an upward track now.

And you think I'm warped when all you've read is HD . . . ?

You better be sure to have the medicine cabinet fully stocked before you ever decide to take on Blade of Tyshalle.

btw, I bought The Twins off Amazon.com, but I haven't started it yet -- I'm working on the long-delayed Caine Black Knife right now, and I just can't read in the genre while I'm in the middle of a project.

I started Scott Bakker's first book back at the end of the tour, and had to put it down after 30-40 pages . . . because I got home, and started back to work.

I know what you mean. I am reading Women In Love right now, as I too am in the middle of a book of my own. I can read things that aren't anything like what I write, but then again, writing is writing, and themes don't need to be similar for styles to seep through. That goes for music and life in general though and you can't keep yourself totally apart from influences.

I loved Scott's books. They were truly some of the best Epic Fantasy I have read in a long long while.

I will read Blade as well. I bought that too but I haven't gotten to it yet.

I am going to Glasgow for two days and then on to London. I'm having dinner with James Barklay in Glasgow, so that will mitigate the negatives of going to this con. I feel like it's the right time to go to London after all the support that so many of my friends over there showed me here in nyc after 9/11.

I will definitely be in Wisconsin as well. I am going to do a reading and probably moderate a panel. We should get together for a drink. I have to leave on that Saturday for Las Vegas though for a party one of my relatives is throwing, so I am going to miss some of the convention.

These are the only two cons I ever go to. I kind of feel like the odd man out at these anyway. Too many industry people and too much sucking up. I tend to sit alone and get into odd arguments when i venture into the groups.

There's a big fantasy con in wisconsin is there? Maybe I should get some time off and hit that, I've been driving out there every week for work and I've never been to a fantasy convention before. Coincidentally I've never seen a rumble thread that wasnt' a fight in a box before and I've REALLY never seen a rumble thread where the creator of the characters offered his input.

There's a big fantasy con in wisconsin is there? Maybe I should get some time off and hit that, I've been driving out there every week for work and I've never been to a fantasy convention before. Coincidentally I've never seen a rumble thread that wasnt' a fight in a box before and I've REALLY never seen a rumble thread where the creator of the characters offered his input.

Well, the rumble part was easy, because they're both my characters (sort of -- though I wrote Barra, she was concieved by -- and based on, to fill in the gaps -- the woman who is now my beloved wife, the Fabulous Robyn Drake . . . and All Things Barra proceed only with her approval . . . probably why working in Star Wars wasn't such an alien experience . . . hmm . . .)

SW ruined my health just over the pressure of writing first SHATTERPOINT to a hard deadline I very nearly missed, then REVENGE OF THE SITH under the pressure of writing The Last Episode and Having to Get It Exactly Right . . . then having to go on bloody tour for a month . . . and I wasn't a really well guy to being with. But I'm better now.

Gary --

We should definitely try to meet up at WFC and spend a couple hours talking Nietzsche in a bar with Robyn -- she's the one who made me read him in the first place, instead of just read ABOUT him, as I'm sure you'll appreciate the distinction . . .

[EDIT:] Oh, and sj?

WFC is not a big fantasy con. It's a very small fantasy con -- membership is usually limited to around 800 or 1000, and it's nearly all pros and semi-pros (i.e. writers, editors, agents, booksellers, critics and 'zine publishers large 'n' small). No costumes. No tchotchkes. And no bloody****ing filking.